Archive for » June, 2009 «

Readers Are Leaders.

That is what we’ve always told our older two children.  Fortunately our encouragement has paid off, and both of them enjoy reading and do it often.

If my title statement is indeed true, then Jack Henry will probably be President of the United States someday.

Indiana Mimi, my mother, has said from almost the time he was born, “That Jack Henry….I think he knows things.”

I don’t know.  Maybe he does.  Maybe he’s wondering right now what inspired Dr. Seuss to write such a compelling piece.  Perhaps he’s contemplating his excellent use of alliteration.  Or maybe he’s more drawn to the art work and is trying to decode the abstract color themes.  Hmmmmm….

I suppose there’s a chance that his thoughts by now have taken an even deeper turn.  He may be wondering if AT&T really did help Kris Allen with a controversial win over judge-favorite Adam Lambert on “American Idol.”  Or it’s possible he’s thinking about how proud he is of the Ford corporation for not taking bail-out money.  I’ll bet he may even be envisioning how attractive “Jack Henry in 2048″ will look on a yard sign of red, white and blue.

Ya’ know, now that I think about it, he’s probably just wondering when I’m going to get this big piece of cardboard out of his hands, stop taking pictures, and change his stinky diaper already.

Aye-aye, Cap’n!

She’s Baaaaaack.

Bonny Annie was invited by a wonderful family from our church to spend the week with them on a Florida pan-handle beach.  The family has four small children, with one more on the way, and they needed an extra set of arms and eyes to help out with their active family.  We said yes because we completely trust this family and thought it would be a good experience for Annaleigh (who is the one on the right in the above picture, by the way).

A couple of things happen to you when your nearly thirteen year-old, first-born child leaves for the beach for a whole week without you.  First, you stop breathing.  I was a little unsure if I could hold my breath for an entire week, but I achieved it, and I’m only a little blue from the experience.  This condition worsens when you realize that her cell phone doesn’t have good signal in the house they were staying, so you can only leave frantic, crazed messages on her voice mail and wait for four hours for her to call you back from the front yard where she only has one…maybe two bars…of signal.  You have conversations like this…

Me: Hi!!! How are you?  Are you putting on sunscreen?  Are you having fun?  You’re not going too far out in the water,  right?  Are you homesick?  Are you sleeping well?  Are you eating well?  Huh?!  Huh?!  Huh?!”

Annaleigh: Mom…*garble*garble*garble*….beach,yeah….*garble*garble*garble*…the kids and I…*garble*garble*garble*….an alligator….*garble*garble*garble*…sunscreen….

Me:  What?!  Honey, I can’t hear you!  What about the kids?  Did you say ALLIGATOR?!  Put on the sunscreen, okay?  You’re doing that, aren’t you?  Annaleigh?  Annaleigh?!

She would be gone.  I’d call her back and leave 32 messages.  I wouldn’t hear from her until the next day when we start this routine all over again.

You worry a lot, even if by nature, you’re not usually a worrier.  I was having a conversation with a friend about mid-week, and she asked about Annaleigh and wanted to know where in Florida she was staying. 

“Seaside,” I answered.

“Oh, that’s where we stayed last year!  It’s wonderful!  Tell her to be careful though.  Last year two adults drowned when we were there.”

Thanks, friend.  I’d tell her if Verizon hadn’t lied and said they have good coverage everywhere.  That guy with the glasses obviously hasn’t been to Seaside and asked his famous question:  “Can you hear me now?”

When I saw the picture above, I reminded Annaleigh that I had cautioned her to not go out that far in the ocean without one of the adults. 

“Oh, Mr. Josh was there with me,” she said.

“Where?  I don’t see him.”

“He must have gotten knocked down by a wave, I guess,” was her casual reply.

I guess there are some things better left unknown.  Maybe there was a reason she didn’t have good cell service that week.  His ways are higher…that’s for sure…and apparently I needed a lesson in Who is in control.  Amen.

Category: Bonny Annie  Tags: , , ,  9 Comments
Why I Updated My Blog Theme

Oh boy….

I’m only five days into this Pirate Mom thing, and I have to go and change everything.  I’m sorry if you had already become attached to my teal background/orange paisley/notebook looking deal.  I had become attached already, and it saddened me to have to change.  But that darn theme just would not cooperate with me!

I’ve learned a lot in the past few days about hosting and developing your own site.  I didn’t know that all WordPress themes do not function the same.  And while the Notepad theme was great with graphics, it was not so great with plug-ins, widgets and other blog goodies that I wanted to utilize.

So, I found this one.  Big D says it looks more pirate-ish anyway.  So we’ll see how it looks and feels over the next few days.  In the mean time, don’t get too attached….

Dominoes

A couple of nights ago, the kids wanted to play a game before they went to bed.  They wanted to play RISK.  I told them I would rather step on a rusty nail.  RISK takes daaaaaays to play.  They wanted to play Monopoly.  I told them I’d rather eat the rusty nail.  You just have to be in the right mood for Monopoly.  I suggested Dominoes.

Normally we use our Dominoes for building complex mazes that we immediately knock down and for math manipulatives.  We don’t actually play the game often.  The kids were up for re-learning.  Fine.  I just had to nurse the Cap’n and get him in bed, and then I would be down to play.

This is what greeted me at the table…

I win.  I have the cutest, sweetest, most creative kids ever.  Stunts like this make me want to play games with them every night.  I might even play RISK.  I can just imagine “Our Mom is HOT!” spelled out with the little army men.

We had a great time playing.  We played for about two hours until Harrison finally reached 300 points and won the game.

So, what games do you like to play with your family?

Category: My Crew  Tags: , ,  8 Comments
Efficiency

I am a HUGE fan of efficiency and multi-tasking.  I think most busy moms are. 

Every time I wash my hair in the shower, I always shave my legs while I let the conditioner sit on my hair for a couple of minutes.  Sometimes I clip coupons while dinner is cooking.  I try to catch up on my reading while I nurse the baby.  I plop down on the floor and do ab crunches while I talk on the phone.

Just kidding about that last one.

It seems my efficiency gene has been passed down to Dirty Harry.

I snapped this photo of Harrison right after he had just smacked a ball into left field and landed a double.  I love this photo.  He is the picture of concentration as his teammate gets up to plate, ready to run at the first crack of the bat.  He is determined.  He is tensed.  He is ready.

Did you notice that he is wearing batting gloves?  That was a new thing for this game.  He had not worn batting gloves all season.  Well, after he advanced to third base, he decided to do what he had seen the Major Leaguers on TV do and put them in his back pocket.  That was fine, except that he was not fast enough, and when the ball was hit, he was still trying to put one of the gloves in his pocket.  He took off a few feet towards home plate to see what the infield would do with the ball and dropped his glove mid-baseline.  Uh-oh….they try to throw him out at third, and he dashes back.  The ball is overthrown, and so his coach sends him home.  Harrison takes off, but the ball has been recovered by the third baseman and is being thrown to home.  I watch as my son pounds down the baseline, but wait a minute….what’s this?….what is he doing?!  Oh my word, he is stopping to pick up his dropped batting glove!!!  He does it in one fluid motion, then continues running towards home, he slides and is safe.

I slowly exhale the breath I had been holding.  And then I laugh.  I laugh right along with everyone else in the stands.  I marvel at his efficiency.  It very well was almost the right thing to do, pick up after yourself on the way to score a run.  And then I wonder aloud for the stands to hear me, “Strange that he will pick up while running the bases but will not pick up his room.” 

I think he must have selective efficiency.

Monday Morning Musing

Life is a bowl full of cherries.

Or is it a chair full of bowlies?  I always get that mixed up.

But wait a minute…..that means that life is all good, right?  That would mean I would wear a size 6 and never get hangnails.  It would mean that my kids would never be sassy and always do their math and chores without complaining.  It would mean that I like house work and would cheerfully plan and execute healthy gourmet meals every night.  It would mean that we’d all stop aging and never die.  It would mean that Clara would once and for all be house-trained.

I don’t think life is a bowl full of cherries after all.

But I don’t think it’s just the pits either.

Category: The Pirate Mom Speaks  Tags:  11 Comments
Pirate Guacamole

My guacamole recipe is highly sought after.  I have been offered thousands of dollars for my recipe.  Oprah invited me on her show for a special reveal of my secret ingredients.  I lie like a scabbard dog.

Nonetheless, as a thank-you for stopping by my brand spankin’ new site, I’d like to share my humble guacamole recipe….which really is pretty good.  It was inspired by watching a server prepare it at our table in a restaurant called Cozymel’s.

First you need about three ripe avocados and one or two Roma tomatoes.  You can tell an avocado is ripe by pressing one of the ends on, what I call, the button, but which I’m sure is not a technical name.  If it is slightly soft and gives a little, then you have a good avocado.  If it’s very firm, you’ll need to wait a day or two.

Yes, I know there are four avocados pictured.  I’ll show you later what the fourth one is for.

Slice your avocados right down the middle, lengthwise. 

You should be able then to remove the skin very easily, and the pit should pop right out, possibly with the help of a spoon.

After you have repeated this process for all three avocados, place them in a large bowl and mash them with a fork. 

 You could also use a food processor or blender for this step, but I tend to like mine with a lumpier texture.  If your avocados are nice and ripe, then they will mash easily, and by using a fork you can more easily control the texture you want to achieve.

Next, you add the juice of one lime.

Then add the juice of half an orange.

Okay, so I didn’t have an orange.  Juice will work in a pinch.  Just add a splash.

Now for some garlic.  This is what I used…

….but you could use the real thing if so inclined.  Just use a clove or two.  I used this much…

And you can quote me on that.

Now for some salt…

If you really wanted to go all pirate-y, you could get fancy and use sea salt.  But I didn’t have any, so I went Kosher.  Add about a teaspoon, and if need be, you can add more later.

Next you will want to dice up your tomato very finely.  No need to seed or anything.  Just cut the tops off and dice.  The extra juice just adds to the flavor.

Now just mix all of that up and plop a healthy portion on a plate with some tortilla chips (I like Tostito Scoops), and you’re ready for lunch or a snack.

Remember that fourth avocado?  We’re going to use that to feed the baby pirate that lives here, Cap’n Jack Henry.

We’re going to make Baby Pirate Guacamole.  You’ll also need a banana.

Again, you just slice and peel your avacado.  Also peel your banana and break into chunks.  Put it all into a food processor and blend until it’s a consistency that your baby can handle.  Generally I go until it looks like the product of a bad sinus infection.

Yep, that looks about right.

Then you feed it to the baby pirate.  He will love it.

You can refrigerate or freeze the leftovers.  Avocado and banana will both darken in these conditions, but you can add just a dash of lemon juice to prevent it.  If you don’t mind the dark green color, the lemon really isn’t necessary.  Once you give it a good stir, the mixture gets almost back to the original color, as the darkening only happens on top.

When he’s finished just let him wash it all down with a sippy cup of rum.

He’ll sleep for days, and then you can finally clean out your pantry and scrub your baseboards.

Enjoy the guacamole!  (And I was just kidding about the rum thing….)

 

 

Category: Grub  Tags: , , ,  9 Comments
He Laughs Like a Human.

The other day I was doing something around the house when I heard through the baby monitor that Jack Henry was awake.  Since I couldn’t get to him right away, I asked Harrison to please go entertain him for a few minutes.  It wasn’t long before I heard peals of laughter coming from this tiny person.  When I went up to see what was causing all the hilarity, Harrison informed me that Jack Henry now laughs like a human.

According to Harrison, laughing like a human involves more than polite chuckles or simple “huh-huh”‘s that his baby brother usually demonstrates.  It is more maniacal, more out-of-control.  It takes your whole face to pull it off.  Drool is optional.

Yesterday I was holding Jack Henry, and I thought I’d try my hand at making him “laugh like a human.”  I pulled it off.  (Jack Henry is very ticklish.)  However, I found that taking photos one-handed of a convulsing, chuckling six month-old is difficult.

You get a lot of blur.

And eventually you have to give up because your baby is not laughing anymore and trying to grab your camera.

So, my question is do you just laugh, or do you LAUGH LIKE YOU’RE A HUMAN?  I figure if you’re going to do it, you might as well go all out….

…even if it makes you blurry.

Category: Cap'n Jack Henry  Tags: , ,  8 Comments
Welcome to My Site.

Hello.

My name is Kellie, and I’m the Pirate Mom around here.

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 I’m ecstatically married to my Admiral on this big ship of life, Big D. 

He is a wonderful husband and dad, and he’s not really that red.   He works for a large physical therapy company doing administration/management stuff.  In a nutshell, stuff I don’t entirely comprehend.  On the side, he dabbles in photography, but he dabbles exceptionally well.  His photography site is in my list of links on my sidebar.  He loves God and challenges me on a regular basis to love Him more and better.  I’m a blessed chick.

Our scurvy crew consists of our three children:  Bonny Annie, Dirty Harry, and Cap’n Jack Henry.  And our dog, Clara-Beard.

Annaleigh is our oldest child and only daughter. 

She’s a delight in every sense of the word.  She is smart, funny and talented.  She is sometimes sassy.  Currently, she is twelve going on about thirty.  She enjoys all kinds of involvement in the arts, including dance, singing, and drama.  She loves the stage and tries to find one to get on wherever we roam.  She is also a black belt in TaeKwonDo and loves pets and small children.  In her limited free time she enjoys reading and making beaded jewelry.  Bonny Annie is a keeper.

Harrison is our oldest son. 

I believe the expression “all boy” was probably coined just for the likes of him.  He thrives on dirt, sweat, and crude bodily noises.  I fully admit…to him and to the world… that some of his behavior is a bit of  a mystery to me.  Dirty Harry loves sports of every kind.  He is also a Tae Kwon Do black belt and plays a mean first base on his Little League team.  He is chronically obsessed with Legos.  Seriously…he needs a three-step program for his addiction.  He also enjoys reading adventure stories and playing with his dog, Clara.  I love me some Harry….dirty or no.

Cap’n Jack Henry is our surprise third child. 

He is the cutest, sweetest baby on the planet.  He also may be the smartest.  I say these things as a completely unbiased third-party observer stating the facts.  Jack Henry spends his days latched on to his mother like an extra appendage, playing with toys, being cute, drooling and refusing to eat anything that remotely looks like, smells like or acts like a vegetable.  The Cap’n may have been a surprise, but he was definitely the great kind.

Clara is our Boston Terrier. 

She is about three weeks older than Jack Henry, which officially makes us lunatics.  She is basically a good dog, who nearly worships the ground we walk on.  She is only slightly confused about where she is supposed to relieve herself.  She enjoys sleeping on our furniture, licking our feet, eating anything (including Annaleigh’s beads, Harrison’s Legos and Jack Henry’s vegetables) and running at 75 mph through our home.

We are a home schooling family, so we are together…. A LOT!  Annaleigh is a rising 8th grader, Harrison is a rising 4th grader, and Jack Henry is working on his English studies.  I am the teacher, lunch lady, bus driver, librarian, secretary and nurse.  Big D is the principal. 

This site is going to be a little of this and a little of that.  It will be my on-line journal.  It will hopefully be a place of encouragement.  I often blog about home schooling, both my adventures and misadventures.  I will converse a lot about motherhood and child-rearing.  I will post a lot of pictures.  I will post a lot of links. I may whine a little sometimes.  Consider yourselves warned.   I hope this site will make you smile.  I hope this site will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  I hope you will come back.  I hope you will come back often.

‘Till then,

The Pirate Mom

 


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